There are at least three major categories of software
institutions should include in the software inventory: operating
systems, application software, and back-office and environmental
applications. Application software includes core processing
applications, as well as desktop and workstation office
productivity software. Back-office and environmental software
consists of applications that reside above the operating system and
that support primary applications. Examples of back office and
environmental software include database engines, back-up and
storage management software, Internet servers and application
support software, file transmission systems, system performance
monitoring applications, scheduling and change control systems,
utilities, front-end processors (for mainframes only), and problem
and issue tracking software.

The following provides examples of information to capture in
software inventories: